(Original post by mmmcookies)
Home mostly and outside as well I guess.

Haha my suggestion really falls on this point =P If they're going to be used solely for home use, then the Superlux HD 668B headphones are hands down the best available compared to anything at up almost double your budget, the sound reproduction is fantastic and they still see regular use alongside my £400 custom in-ear monitors. A fantastic puchase for £30, especially so for rock. However aside from being ugly as sin, they are open back headphones, meaning the backs are vented and offer very poor isolation, making them very unsuitable for outside use. If you're after an all purpose pair, go for the Creative Aurvana Live, which are a rebranded version of a pair of headphones from highly respected manufacturer Denon. They sound great for £50. If you are a basshead and think you might enjoy very overemphasised bass, then the Sony MDR XB500s are the way to go. Not recommended if you listen to a lot of rock though, the mids on the XB line are pretty recessed. The first two pairs are the way to go in my opinion (:

(Original post by Gofre)
Haha my suggestion really falls on this point =P If they're going to be used solely for home use, then the Superlux HD 668B headphones are hands down the best available compared to anything at up almost double your budget, the sound reproduction is fantastic and they still see regular use alongside my £400 custom in-ear monitors. A fantastic puchase for £30, especially so for rock. However aside from being ugly as sin, they are open back headphones, meaning the backs are vented and offer very poor isolation, making them very unsuitable for outside use. If you're after an all purpose pair, go for the Creative Aurvana Live, which are a rebranded version of a pair of headphones from highly respected manufacturer Denon. They sound great for £50. If you are a basshead and think you might enjoy very overemphasised bass, then the Sony MDR XB500s are the way to go. Not recommended if you listen to a lot of rock though, the mids on the XB line are pretty recessed. The first two pairs are the way to go in my opinion (:

I've mentioned in another thread recently that I'm not a massive fan of the 202s, for under £35 they're inferior to the AKG K81DJ which are themselves inferior to the Creative Aurvana Lives. It's for this reason I'd strongly recommend reconsidering the Lives over either pair, or look into the aforementioned K81DJ. If you insist on picking between those two, I would say it depends on how much rock you listen to and how much of a bass head ou are. The XB500s are a very fun listen when it comes to electronic music, but they are not an accurate listen, the mids and highs are pretty recessed (the highs especially so) and heavy bass is nigh-on omnipresent, they don't make a very good headphone for rock in my opinion. The 202s are, by comparison, a lot more balanced and accurate, they don't hit the same levels of jaw shaking bass though, so it's a judgement call really.

(Original post by Gofre)
Haha my suggestion really falls on this point =P If they're going to be used solely for home use, then the Superlux HD 668B headphones are hands down the best available compared to anything at up almost double your budget, the sound reproduction is fantastic and they still see regular use alongside my £400 custom in-ear monitors. A fantastic puchase for £30, especially so for rock. However aside from being ugly as sin, they are open back headphones, meaning the backs are vented and offer very poor isolation, making them very unsuitable for outside use. If you're after an all purpose pair, go for the Creative Aurvana Live, which are a rebranded version of a pair of headphones from highly respected manufacturer Denon. They sound great for £50. If you are a basshead and think you might enjoy very overemphasised bass, then the Sony MDR XB500s are the way to go. Not recommended if you listen to a lot of rock though, the mids on the XB line are pretty recessed. The first two pairs are the way to go in my opinion (:

This might sound like a dumb question, but are the second ones (Aurvana Live) very loud? I bought these stupid skullcandy ones as they were in a sale, but even at max volume it's hardly loud.

With regards to the Superlux HD 668B headphones, I would intend to use them indoors only, but I wouldn't really want noise blaring out very loudly, is that what you were referring to by vented? Thanks!

Not necessarily, bigger drivers means more power is required to fully drive them. It depends on the source.

(Original post by M1011)
This might sound like a dumb question, but are the second ones (Aurvana Live) very loud? I bought these stupid skullcandy ones as they were in a sale, but even at max volume it's hardly loud.

With regards to the Superlux HD 668B headphones, I would intend to use them indoors only, but I wouldn't really want noise blaring out very loudly, is that what you were referring to by vented? Thanks!

The Lives have identically sized drivers and impedance as those Skullcandys, although I doubt the Skullcandys are particularly efficient. I would expect them to go louder, but exactly how loud is hard to say since I've only ever used the Lives when paired with a headphone amplifier. What are you playing your music out of?

Regarding the Superluxes, leakage isn't too bad. By vented I mean the backs of the headphones aren't sealed like most of the headphones you'll have seen are. If you go into google and have a look at the sennheiser hd 600 headphones you'll see what I mean, you can see the internals very clearly. This allows air to flow uninterrupted, meaning low noise isolation and high noise pollution. The Superluxes are more semi-open though, they have a series of small openings rather than being completely open, which keeps leaking down. At moderate volumes you can avoid bothering people in the same room.

(Original post by Gofre)
Haha my suggestion really falls on this point =P If they're going to be used solely for home use, then the Superlux HD 668B headphones are hands down the best available compared to anything at up almost double your budget, the sound reproduction is fantastic and they still see regular use alongside my £400 custom in-ear monitors. A fantastic puchase for £30, especially so for rock. However aside from being ugly as sin, they are open back headphones, meaning the backs are vented and offer very poor isolation, making them very unsuitable for outside use. If you're after an all purpose pair, go for the Creative Aurvana Live, which are a rebranded version of a pair of headphones from highly respected manufacturer Denon. They sound great for £50. If you are a basshead and think you might enjoy very overemphasised bass, then the Sony MDR XB500s are the way to go. Not recommended if you listen to a lot of rock though, the mids on the XB line are pretty recessed. The first two pairs are the way to go in my opinion (:

I was thinking about buying the Sony MDR XB500s but apparently the bass is SO over emphasised that your ears hurt. Can you recommend any others in the 30-40 range which aren't ugly as sin?